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Charlotte: Just as some people are allergic to penicillan, some might be to quinine --- and not even know it. It scares the hell out of me every time anyone recommends quinine. I am a Vietnam veteran and took quinine on a regular basis (for Malaria prevention) with no apparent ill effects. I was hospitalized in Vietnam and Japan (diagnosis dengue fever) and I never had unusual blood tests. Many years after I got home I began having leg cramp problems and was prescribed quinine --- which had minimal benefit, but some. One day I went to the VA hospital for a checkup. They took a routine blood test and discovered I had a platelet count of about 7000 --- normal being 250,000 to 350,000 I was told. I was hospitalized for about a week and given a blood transfusion but they never could find any reason for the low platelet count. My count recovered quite quickly. They told me to watch for a rash I had on my skin when I arrived at the hospital and return if I ever got it again. Several years later we were coming home from a vacation and I stopped at a Walmart and bought some quinine (it was then available over the counter) for severe leg cramps. Just some relief to get me home. The next morning I was sitting on the stool and noticed I had that distinctive rash. I went to the VA and told them I thought I had a low platelet count. A blood test proved I was correct --- it was about 10,000. The same doctor in the hematology dept looked my records over thoroughly and discovered I had reported taking a (1) quinine pill prior to being hospitalized. He said ---"I remember you. We always remember the cases we can't solve." It was determined I was allergic to quinine. He determined my platelet count had probably gone down to ZERO and the 10000 reading was the level I had recovered to at that point. They wanted to hospitalize me again but I convinced them to let be go home and be VERY CAREFUL for a few days until by blood count recovered and the effect of the quinine --- ONE PILL ---- left my system. If I had been injured in any way I could have bled to death --- internally even. The "rash" I had on my skin was caused by the blood leaking our of my capillaries because of lack of platelets. I had ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER symptoms other than the almost unnoticeable rash. How I developed an allergy to quinine after all those years without taking any can not be determined? All I can say is BE CAREFUL! Paul Fahr ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn